Portugal, Canada, and the United States were the countries with the highest house price to income ratio in 2023. In all three countries, the index exceeded 130 index points, while the average for all OECD countries stood at 117.5 index points. The index measures the development of housing affordability and is calculated by dividing nominal house price by nominal disposable income per head, with 2015 set as a base year when the index amounted to 100. An index value of 120, for example, would mean that house price growth has outpaced income growth by 20 percent since 2015. How have house prices worldwide changed since the COVID-19 pandemic? House prices started to rise gradually after the global financial crisis (2007–2008), but this trend accelerated with the pandemic. The countries with advanced economies, which usually have mature housing markets, experienced stronger growth than countries with emerging economies. Real house price growth (accounting for inflation) peaked in 2022 and has since lost some of the gain. Although, many countries experienced a decline in house prices, the global house price index shows that property prices in 2023 were still substantially higher than before COVID-19. Renting vs. buying In the past, house prices have grown faster than rents. However, the home affordability has been declining notably, with a direct impact on rental prices. As people struggle to buy a property of their own, they often turn to rental accommodation. This has resulted in a growing demand for rental apartments and soaring rental prices.

Taiwan Housing Price to Income Ratio: Taipei City data was reported at 14.990 Times in Dec 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 15.120 Times for Sep 2017. Taiwan Housing Price to Income Ratio: Taipei City data is updated quarterly, averaging 11.770 Times from Mar 2002 (Median) to Dec 2017, with 64 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 16.160 Times in Mar 2015 and a record low of 5.890 Times in Dec 2002. Taiwan Housing Price to Income Ratio: Taipei City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of the Interior. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Taiwan – Table TW.EB017: Housing Price and Housing Loan Payment to Income Ratio.

The house price to income index in Europe declined in almost all European countries in 2023, indicating that income grew faster than house prices. Portugal, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands led the house price to income index ranking in 2023, with values exceeding 125 index points. Romania, Bulgaria, and Finland were on the other side of the spectrum, with less than 100 index points. The house price to income ratio is an indicator for the development of housing affordability across OECD countries and is calculated as the nominal house prices divided by nominal disposable income per head, with 2015 chosen as a base year. A ratio higher than 100 means that the nominal house price growth since 2015 has outpaced the nominal disposable income growth, and housing is therefore comparatively less affordable. In 2023, the OECD average stood at 117.4 index points.

Hungary increased 9% of House Price to Income Ratio in 2019, from a year earlier.

In 2023, Ahmedabad had the most affordable housing market of the eight biggest metropolitan areas in India with a proportion of 21 percent of income to monthly instalment of a housing unit. In Mumbai the affordability index was at 51 percent, the only city with higher than threshold affordability ratio set at 50 percent. However, the affordability index has significantly improved from pre-pandemic times in 2019 for many cities including Mumbai, Bengaluru and NCR.

Buenos Aires, Argentina, was the least affordable city in South America in the first half of 2022 to buy an apartment. The ratio measures the number of years needed for a two-earner household where one person works full time and one person works half-time to buy a 90-square meter apartment. It assumes the property has the average square meter price for the city and that home buyers earn the average net salary. Montevideo, Uruguay, was one of the most affordable cities, where it took about nine years to buy an apartment.

Portugal, the Netherlands and Austria are among the countries where house prices grew the most in comparison to income since 2015. In the fourth quarter of 2024, the house price to income ratio in the Netherlands and Austria exceeded 120 index points, indicating that since 2015, house price growth has outpaced income growth by 20 percent. In Portugal, the index amounted to 153 index points in the same period. This was not the case in all countries in the ranking: In Finland, Bulgaria, and Romania, the opposite trend was observed, showing that incomes grew faster than house prices. The house price to income ratio is calculated as the nominal house prices divided by nominal income per capita, with 2015 chosen as the base year of the index. The ratio signifies the development of hosing affordability, with higher figures meaning housing is more unaffordable. There are other indices, such as RHPI (or house price indices corrected by inflation rates) which look at this as well.

Affordability ratios calculated by dividing house prices for existing dwellings, by gross annual residence-based earnings. Based on the median and lower quartiles of both house prices and earnings in England and Wales.

Japan JP: Standardised Price-Income Ratio: sa data was reported at 89.185 Ratio in 2023. This records an increase from the previous number of 87.364 Ratio for 2022. Japan JP: Standardised Price-Income Ratio: sa data is updated yearly, averaging 113.334 Ratio from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2023, with 64 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 163.015 Ratio in 1973 and a record low of 73.387 Ratio in 2009. Japan JP: Standardised Price-Income Ratio: sa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Japan – Table JP.OECD.AHPI: House Price Index: Seasonally Adjusted: OECD Member: Annual. Nominal house prices divided by nominal disposable income per head. Net household disposable income is used. The population data come from the OECD national accounts database. The long-term average is calculated over the whole period available when the indicator begins after 1980 or after 1980 if the indicator is longer. This value is used as a reference value. The ratio is calculated by dividing the indicator source on this long-term average, and indexed to a reference value equal to 100.

The house price to income ratio in the U.S. increased in 2023, after falling slightly in the second half of 2022. The ratio measures the development of housing affordability and is calculated by dividing the nominal house price by the nominal disposable income per head, with 2015 set as a base year when the index amounted to 100. In the third quarter of 2024, the index score amounted to 130.3, which means that house price growth has outpaced income growth by over 30 percent since 2015.Stagnant wages Average annual real wages steadily rose until 2014 but have since remained stagnant. However, single-family house prices have continued to increase. This disparity has resulted in decreased housing affordability. Average wages needed to buy a home The share of wages needed to buy a median priced home in the United States has been steadily increasing since 2012. This trend is reflected in the house price to income ratio as well. The availability of affordable housing will become more important, if the price to income ratio continues to develop in this way.

Taiwan Housing Price to Income Ratio: Hsinchu City data was reported at 8.180 Times in Dec 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 8.050 Times for Sep 2017. Taiwan Housing Price to Income Ratio: Hsinchu City data is updated quarterly, averaging 6.355 Times from Mar 2002 (Median) to Dec 2017, with 64 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 8.870 Times in Mar 2017 and a record low of 5.030 Times in Dec 2002. Taiwan Housing Price to Income Ratio: Hsinchu City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of the Interior. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Taiwan – Table TW.EB017: Housing Price and Housing Loan Payment to Income Ratio.

Taiwan Housing Price to Income Ratio data was reported at 9.160 Times in Dec 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 9.220 Times for Sep 2017. Taiwan Housing Price to Income Ratio data is updated quarterly, averaging 6.735 Times from Mar 2002 (Median) to Dec 2017, with 64 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9.460 Times in Jun 2017 and a record low of 4.150 Times in Sep 2002. Taiwan Housing Price to Income Ratio data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Construction and Planning Agency, Ministry of the Interior. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Taiwan – Table TW.EB017: Housing Price and Housing Loan Payment to Income Ratio.

New Zealand NZ: Price to Income Ratio: sa data was reported at 119.398 2015=100 in Jun 2024. This records a decrease from the previous number of 121.104 2015=100 for Mar 2024. New Zealand NZ: Price to Income Ratio: sa data is updated quarterly, averaging 79.503 2015=100 from Mar 1986 (Median) to Jun 2024, with 154 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 143.278 2015=100 in Dec 2021 and a record low of 46.765 2015=100 in Mar 1987. New Zealand NZ: Price to Income Ratio: sa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s New Zealand – Table NZ.OECD.AHPI: House Price Index: Seasonally Adjusted: OECD Member: Quarterly. Nominal house prices divided by nominal disposable income per head. Net household disposable income is used. The population data come from the OECD national accounts database.

The house price-to-income ratio in Australia was 122.1 as of the third quarter of 2024. This ratio, calculated by dividing nominal house prices by nominal disposable income per head, increased from the previous quarter. The price-to-income ratio can be used to measure housing affordability in a specific area. Australia's property bubble There has been considerable debate over the past decade about whether Australia is in a property bubble or not. A property bubble refers to a sharp increase in the price of property that is disproportional to income and rental prices, followed by a decline. In Australia, rising house prices have undoubtedly been an issue for many potential homeowners, pricing them out of the market. Along with the average house price, high mortgage interest rates have exacerbated the issue. Is the homeownership dream out of reach? Housing affordability has varied across the different states and territories in Australia. In 2024, the median value of residential houses was the highest in Sydney compared to other major Australian cities, with Brisbane becoming an increasingly expensive city. Nonetheless, expected interest rate cuts in 2025, alongside the expansion of initiatives to improve Australia's dwelling stock, social housing supply, and first-time buyer accessibility to properties, may start to improve the situation. These encompass initiatives such as the Australian government's Help to Buy scheme and the Housing Australia Future Fund Facility (HAFFF) and National Housing Accord Facility (NHAF) programs.

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Belgium BE: Price to Income Ratio: sa data was reported at 97.066 2015=100 in 2023. This records a decrease from the previous number of 102.148 2015=100 for 2022. Belgium BE: Price to Income Ratio: sa data is updated yearly, averaging 71.817 2015=100 from Dec 1970 (Median) to 2023, with 54 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 104.712 2015=100 in 2021 and a record low of 51.468 2015=100 in 1986. Belgium BE: Price to Income Ratio: sa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Belgium – Table BE.OECD.AHPI: House Price Index: Seasonally Adjusted: OECD Member: Annual. Nominal house prices divided by nominal disposable income per head. Net household disposable income is used. The population data come from the OECD national accounts database.

House Price Index YoY in the United States remained unchanged at 4.80 percent in January. This dataset includes a chart with historical data for the United States FHFA House Price Index YoY.

Analysis of ‘Property Prices Index By City 2009 to 2021’ provided by Analyst-2 (analyst-2.ai), based on source dataset retrieved from https://www.kaggle.com/jolenech/property-prices-index-by-city-2009-to-2021 on 13 February 2022.

--- Dataset description provided by original source is as follows ---

Context

I wanted to see how affordable housing is across countries and wanted to compare the price of housing. But I could not find a properly documented and easily downloaded dataset hence I created one with the help of web-scraping with Python and Pandas.

Content

I spent a lot of time searching for a source for the information I wanted in order to compare affordability. I stumbled upon a great website which was exactly what I was looking for Numbeo The website has a lot of details like affordability index, prime to income ratio, price to rent ratios in and out of city centre and more!

Now I had the data, I needed to download it. Since I couldn't get the raw form of the data, I did web scraping in order to get details in the table for 2009 to 2021 using a for loop to go through all links and create csv files for every year.

What's in the dataset?

Details of columns Note: There are a few null values in the 2009 dataset (mortgage and Affordability Index columns.

Check out the code I used on Github.

Acknowledgements

I couldn't have gotten the data without Numbeo!

Inspiration

I was working on a project trying to see if Price of Housing in Singapore can be justified and wanted more data that's global instead of just from Singapore. Let me know if you have any questions!

--- Original source retains full ownership of the source dataset ---

Israel IL: Price to Income Ratio: sa data was reported at 104.557 2015=100 in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 100.000 2015=100 for 2015. Israel IL: Price to Income Ratio: sa data is updated yearly, averaging 91.707 2015=100 from Dec 1995 (Median) to 2016, with 22 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 109.854 2015=100 in 1997 and a record low of 70.441 2015=100 in 2007. Israel IL: Price to Income Ratio: sa data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Israel – Table IL.OECD.AHPI: House Price Index: Seasonally Adjusted: OECD Member: Annual. Nominal house prices divided by nominal disposable income per head. Net household disposable income is used. The population data come from the OECD national accounts database.

Rents in Germany continued to increase in all seven major cities in 2024. The average rent per square meter in Munich was approximately 19.8 euros — the highest in the country. Conversely, Düsseldorf had the most affordable rent, at approximately 13.1 euros per square meter. But how does renting compare to buying? According to the house price to rent ratio, house prices in Germany have risen faster than rents, making renting more affordable than buying. Affordability of housing in Germany In 2023, Germany was among the European countries with a relatively high house price to income ratio in Europe. The indicator compares the affordability of housing across OECD countries and is calculated as the nominal house prices divided by nominal disposable income per head, with 2015 chosen as a base year. Between 2012 and 2022, property prices in the country rose much faster than income, with the house price to income index peaking at 138 index points at the beginning of 2022. Slower house price growth in the following years has led to the index declining, as incomes catch up. Nevertheless, homebuyers in 2024 faced significantly higher mortgage interest rates, contributing to a higher final cost. How much does buying a property in Germany cost? Just as with renting, Munich was the most expensive city for newly built apartments. In 2024, the cost per square meter in Munich was almost 2,800 euros pricier than in the runner-up city, Frankfurt. Detached and semi-detached houses are usually more expensive. The price gap between Munich and the second most expensive city, Stuttgart, was nearly 4,000 euros per square meter.